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I am finishing my basement and as part of it I am setting up a home theater room. The room is 17 x 11 x 8 unfinished. It will be a dedicated home theater room no lighting from outside. I plan to mainly watch movies and sports on this screen. So far I have figured out I have no idea what I'm doing. So I thought I would start a thread to detail out the design, and to start asking questions. So I have put together the diagram below to start. My screen will be opposite the 5 x 3 closet, where I am planning on putting my equipment. I am planning on sound proofing the room doing the room within a room (hat tip to BigMouthinDC).

So the first questions I have is for the sound proofing. I have a foundation wall as shown at the bottom of the drawing (the dashed green line). It continues about 2 ft on the screen wall. Do I need to sound proof these walls? The second question is my closet. I was planning on having access to the components from the room so to put like a glass cabinet front on the wall between the room and the closet. If I do this it would obviously be a big hole in the sound proofing. If I do this how would I handle sound proofing? or should I forget about this and just access my components from the closet door? Thanks for your help on this, I've gotten a lot of great information already from these forums.

Treat the walls and ceiling of the closet like the walls and ceiling of the theater and you will not have any issue with the glass door being a big hole in your soundproofing. The closet is a small space and it isn't going to add much to the project budget. Did this both at the Bacon Race and Rawinsway.

You need to think of this room and closet as a bunker, any section of the wall that you think you can go on the cheap will be your weak link. Sound does not travel in a straight line stopping when it hits the foundation wall, If you fail to address the bottom wall, sound would would easily radiate out and be channeled directly up to the rooms above.

Thanks for the feedback. I think I can move the doorway and was thinking I should move it past the front row. Is that where i should move the door to? I would like to put in a 120" screen which is definitely tight for my room width. Based on the calculators I will have 6" on either side of the screen. So I am also looking to add a foot or two of width, but not sure if I can since it is a supporting wall and if it will work in the space.

I am thinking of totally isolating the equipment in the closet in the back, but I would like to be able to access from the room. That way I can change out discs at the least.

As far as seating I would like to have two rows with seating for 4 in each so a total of 8. Based on reading most people are putting riser about 7'. So that puts thg back of my front row at 10' from screen. Is that enough space for seating? Is my front row too close to screen?

You will have a hard time fitting a four seat row in 11 ft. On my last project a row of 4 with a middle love seat was 120 inches wide. Nobody wants to be sitting that close to a side wall, the sound will suck. You can probably find some real narrow seats to make it work, but are you building this theater to fit as many friends as possible or do you want maximum comfort for the immediate family.

If you seal off the closet that wall can be the screen wall and you wouldn't have to move the door much, I don't like it tucked so tight to the front wall.

Thanks for the info. Based on what I'm reading I will change the screen wall to the other side. This way I don't have to move the door. Also I won't have to sound proof the closet. I won't have access to equipment but i figure other than changing disks I won't need it.
As for seating I will change the front row to three and leave back at four knowing it will be tight and audio and video or end seats might not be best. What is the smallest recommended riser? Can I go smaller than 7 ft?

I am getting ready to start framing this week so I had a question on framing? How far apart should I space the studs? Two walls the one with the doors and the wall between the room and closet are supporting walls that are already in. Is there anything I should change for those? Thanks for your help.

You will talk to John or Ted at soundproofing company. Ask for BigMouth's AVS discount.

On the furring channel. You want 25ga 7/8 inch furring channel. I buy mine at Allied building supply in Leesburg. Ask for Jimmy and say that Jeff Parkinson the theater builder sent you. Buy your screws there and save about 50% of Home Depot price. 1 1/4 inches for the first layer and 2 inches for the second. You want the screws designed for light gauge metal. Just a heads up the channel comes in 12 ft lengths.

Thanks BMDC, I appreciate the contact info. I've reached out to soundproofing company to talk to John or Ted. I'll contact Allied to get the furring channels. Thanks a lot for the hookup. One quick question I have is it better to put staggered stud or the clips and channels? If I put the staggered stud will there be enough space between the studs to get the lower bass or will it be better to do the clips and channels?

So next items I want to start planning for is HVAC and Wiring. I was reading about setting up the vents in the room and not sure I understand. I don't have any equipment other then the projector in the room. So based on reading I will have a supply and return do I need only 1 supply and return?. So for the supply I should build that into a soffit, does the vent need to . Do I need to have this supply close to the projector? Since I have not picked out my projector I'm not sure where I will mount it. Does that matter? My equipment will be in a 5 x 3 closet that is under the stairs. I think I can get a supply to it, but not sure a return. Is that ok? Would I be better of not making a closet and leaving it open or just make sure to leave my closet door open when using the theater? Thanks for your help on this.

The alternative to clips and channel for the walls is to decouple the wall framing from the ceiling joists by building the frames one inch shorter than needed and attaching the top plate of the wall with IB3 clips which are L brackets with a big rubber attachment point. For walls facing foundation you can do a regular single frame. For walls adjacent to other rooms you would stagger the studs or build a double framed wall. If your OCD index is set at 9 or above you decouple the framing and use clips and channel.

The alternative to clips and channel for the ceiling is to rest a second set of ceiling joists on the decoupled walls not touching the sub-floor above.

If you have hardwood or tile floors overhead and you expect a lot of foot traffic while you try to enjoy your theater you may want to review the suggested ceiling soundproofing alternatives at the Soundproofingcompany.com website. Basically you secure additional drywall with green glue to the bottom of the subfloor before anything else.

Try to get the supplies (MORE THAN ONE) near the front of the theater and pull the hot air out near the back with a dedicated return for this room, Assuming the projector is near the back that should do the trick to remove the hot air. If you don't have a return and you close the door you will never get the room cool enough.

You can push air into the closet but if you don't have a return at least put in a passive vent to the rest of the basement assuming the basement has a return somewhere. You could also get a louvered door. Alternatively put an exhaust fan near the top and some passive vents near the bottom of the closet.

Still waiting to hear back from the soundproofing guys so in the mean time some additional questions on the vents. For the supply vents to the room do I need to do anything special or just the normal vents in the ceiling? Based on your info I am thinking I will put in two supply vents in the ceiling toward the front. Then put a dead vent in the back for return. Is it better to put this vent in a soffit on the back wall near the ceiling or closer to the floor and have the rest of dead vent outside the room? I plan to put a soffit on the side walls and back wall for wiring and lighting (rope and cans). Should I plan to put vents in these too?

Another question I have is where should I get the Green glue, clips and furring channels from?

I have some left over from my project. All stuff from The Soundproofing Company.... Green Glue, Caulk, Furring Channels, Whisper Clips, IB3 Clips. I should open up my own shop! :-) Let me know if you would like to help me clear out this stuff! I'm in Potomac.

Where are you at. I'm just getting to the painting stage of my build. If you are close enough you are welcome to come over and check my room out (12x18) and see what I've done. I'm in Manassas/Dale City area.

Truck thanks for the offer. I will let you know, not getting much free time to do theater stuff right now. Rosso nice talking to you the other day, hope things went well this weekend and I will ping you tomorrow.

Got to talk to a lot of good people the past few days getting great advice on the room. Ted from soundproofingcompany.com. Mike G from AVS, and RossoDiamante from Potomac. Based on Ted's advice I am putting in clips and channel on front wall and ceiling, since other three walls will be decoupled. I will be using the IB1 clips. Also plan to put in two door setup. I need some advice on this if I do the two door setup what is cheapest way to do this? Two exterior doors? Better off still with solid core interior doors? What about the seal around the doors just the standard for exterior doors? Thanks for any help on this.

I've started to speak with Mike G from AVS on equipment he was very helpful. Think I've decided on the Denon 4520, especially with the great deal this month that includes the DBT-3313 BRP. Now next is the speakers. I have a question on this. I have about 15" on the front wall to put in a baffle wall. Based on the size of the room and wanting to get a 120" screen I was thinking the best option would be to go with in wall speakers. Right now I'm firmly locked in on the BR Radia for these which only need 4" of depth. So should I go with in walls and put a smaller baffle wall of 6" or put in a bigger baffle wall up to 15" and put something other then in walls? Based on a 15" baffle wall what speakers would I be able to fit there that you guys would recommend? Thanks for your advice.

Finally I met up with RossoDiamante and got to check out his setup in progress. He has a nice setup that looks like it is going to be amazing. I got to hear his BG Radia speakers and they sounded amazing. Definitely made it easy to decide on my choice if I go with in walls.

Some updates put the GG+DW x2 between the joist, added the insulation clips and furring channels to the ceiling. Also added the clips and furring channels to the front wall. The rest of the walls are decoupled. I've added the dead vent with fan. So have 2 supplies and 1 dead vent to the next room. Also for the wall with the door I installed two decoupled framing walls. So now planning to put in two doors. Does anyone have recommendations on where to get the doors in Northern Virginia? Based on my reading I should get two solid core pre hung doors.

I buy my doors from Accent Millwork in Fredericksburg, Ask for Mike. The delivery charge for a couple of doors was under $50, the last time. They will order any style door you want and slap it in a frame. If you want extra wide jambs they will make some out of MDF. If you want extra hinges ask.

Not Virginia, but I got all my doors (cheap) at Fisher Lumber in Rockville, MD. Best price and free delivery (to Potomac, at least). I think I've got Masonite solid core doors.

Did you get any other sort of door sealing hardware? I've got a whole frame setup that I have to figure out how to install. About the right time now as I'm installing door handles in all the other doors!

I ended up getting the Masonite solid core door from Accent Millwork. Big thanks for the recommendation. I haven't done the seal yet. I plan to get weather stripping and have a sweep for the bottom. I will do that for both doors. Is that enough or do I need more than that?